Ooltewah Rally Clips East Ridge In Overtime

Boyd's Double-Double Leads Owls To Third Win, 60-54

  • Monday, November 24, 2014
  • John Hunt

Tank Montgomery has been battling the flu in recent days and probably not feeling as good as he would like, but he may be feeling a bit better after his Ooltewah Owls came from behind to defeat visiting East Ridge Monday night in a non-district basketball game.

It took an overtime to do it, but the Owls improved to 3-2 overall with the 60-54 victory at the Edward M. Foster Gymnasium.

"We really didn't start playing until the end of the third quarter and we didn't shoot the ball very well, but we kept fighting and that Ooltewah defense pulled us through," the coach said following post-game comments with his team.

"There are times when you just have to win ugly, but I thought the difference was our defensive pressure as we finally wore them down a little bit," he added.

The game was nip and tuck for the first half before the Pioneers scored eight of the final 10 points in the last two minutes to gain the upper hand by a 31-25 score at the break.

The biggest lead of the game for East Ridge came at the 4:25 mark of the third quarter when Dominique Millener's three-point play extended the difference to 40-29. 

The Pioneers were still ahead by 46-40 when the fourth quarter started and it was 48-40 when Kevin Blair scored on a putback to start the final stanza.

By the time Blair sank two free throws with 2:18 to play, the Owls had started their comeback and were down by just three at that point.

Edward Hayes sank the first of two free throws at the 1:57 mark before Jarek Boyd had a steal and thundering slam to knot the score 15 seconds later.

Both teams had chances to win in regulation, but neither could get the big bucket with the game on the line.

The overtime period was a different matter as the Owls had a new sense of confidence and played like it in the extra period.

Abel Anchanattu sank a 3 from the key at the 2:59 mark before Boyd's putback at the 1:35 gave the Owls a little breathing room at 55-50.

Blair scored for the last time on the Pioneers' next possession, but the Owls scored five of the final seven points in the last minute to win by six.

"That's the sign of an inexperienced team.  We played nervous and it showed, but we've got to learn how to take care of the little things and we didn't do that tonight," said East Ridge coach Jon Goddard after his team dropped its second game in three starts.

"We don't have a go-to guy right now.  We have to want the ball when it gets to crunch time.  We always play hard, but we have to play smart," Goddard added.

Boyd scored 22 points to lead all scorers while Hayes followed with 15 for the Owls.  Anchanattu was also in double figures with 11.

Blair finished with 17 points to lead East Ridge.  JoJo Tillery was next with 10 while Jesse Jones finished with eight.

Blair also grabbed a dozen rebounds as East Ridge won the battle of the boards, 32-31.  De'Arius Moore snared 10.  Boyd was tops for Ooltewah with 11 rebounds.

OOLTEWAH GIRLS 52, EAST RIDGE 29: The Lady Owls won their second straight game to improve to 2-4 but it was a 28-4 difference in the second and third quarters that settled it.

India Corley scored 15 points to lead the Lady Owls while teammates Josie Cain and Hannah Henderson followed with 11 each.

Jayla Stone was the only East Ridge player in double figures as she finished with 17, including 13 points in the fourth quarter.

GIRLS SUMMARY

EAST RIDGE    7  2  2  18  --  29

OOLTEWAH    9  13  15  15  --  52

EAST RIDGE (29) -- Stone 17, Murphy, Martin, Hubbard 6, Moon 3, Lawrence 2, Helton, Moore 1.

OOLTEWAH (52) -- Cline, Cain 11, Hall 4, A. Jones 2, Swafford 2, Reed 4, Lemon, Corley 15, Henderson 11, K. Jones 3.

3-POINT GOALS: East Ridge 2 (Stone, Moon), Ooltewah 3 (Cain, Corley, K. Jones).

BOYS SUMMARY

EAST RIDGE  13  18  15  4  4  --  54

OOLTEWAH  14  11  15  10  10  --  60

EAST RIDGE (54) -- Millener 5, Tillery 10, Jones 8, Moore 5, Garmany 5, Blair 17, Lee, Thomas 4.

OOLTEWAH (60) -- Hayes 15, Boyd 22, Williams 9, Anchanattu 11, Kendrick 1, Jones 2, McCauley.

3-POINT GOALS: East Ridge 2 (Moore, Garmany), Ooltewah  3 (Hayes, Williams, Anchanattu).

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@Comcast.net)

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